Wow, what a great pairing, Eleanor and Kimberly, thank you both for a brilliant interview! Going straight back to your stacks to read your works again. Substack at its best!
Omg I just read this now, and once again I’m left in awe by your writing — and by the humble, authentic, swirling ways you navigate this world. How can our digital connection and friendship feel more powerful than many of my in person relationships? It’s the power of your writing, that’s what. Thank you. Your spirit is remarkable. PS I’m heading to Appleton in a month or so for a concert. You’ll be in my heart.
Christine, your words couldn’t have arrived at a better time. I woke up this morning with a cloud of insecurity and uncertainty about the sustainability of Unfixed, both as a media endeavor and my more recent endeavors with writing. I love this work, it sustains my heart, and the circle of bright, soulful humans here is like no other. So that’s reason enough. But sometimes it sure would be nice to feel a nod or two from the gatekeepers. So thank you for your whole-hearted encouragement. I feel lifted and the held, the uncertainties paling before the grand intimacy of truly seeing one another through this not-so silly platform. 💛
Anyone who can use "chthonic" in a sentence has my heart @Kimberly Warner. I've plumbed the underworld and shot through black holes to write my YA time travel adventure series and short stories.
Now, I'm turning to creative nonfiction--emphasis on "creative"--to tackle an ancestor memoir that combines prose, poetry, painting and photography to recreate a moment in my grandmother's life that brings her presence to the present.
I have no idea where the story will go, but "Unfixed" seems like the perfect description of whatever this is. Thanks Eleanor, for putting Kimberly in the spotlight!
I adore all the "Overstory" and "understory" references to old and new-growth trees... communicating with each other throughout a lifetime of evolution and "life-giving mycorrhizal networks." This is very much what Substack is for me as well. ❤️
I just grinned and smiled through all of this. Your writing does that to me, Kimberly.
I resonate with lots of what you say.
"So without any pre-conceived idea about how that process should look, it’s hard to identify any mistakes. I’m winging it and true to my only flying-dream-to-date, I crash headfirst into the branches of trees daily. But no one seems to care, so I don’t either. It’s fun up here." 👏
You can call yourself a writer. You're a brilliant writer.
"I wish I could send you a version of this interview that includes all the backspaces, nonsense and gaping-mouth pauses where I stick my face on my cat’s belly, listening for my chthonic friends."
“Writing feels like fishing in a giant, understocked lake. Most of the time, I float on the surface with my pole, trying to hook words and phrases that represent the ideas and scenes lurking in the deep only to end up with a sunburn and a boat full of seaweed.”
A wonderful interview, it was nice to hear a few things about the person who is often the interviewee. :)
You write with a profound vulnerability and creativity! Just read this line in response to why you write in a prose style : “…it is simply the shortest, most fluid distance between my brain and my heart”. Fluid, indeed. Keep on listening with your magnificent heart, dear daughter!
This was a lovely and uplifting read this morning, thank you. But - sunflower butter and apples? What is this? I know this isn’t a recipe interview, but…☺️
Gorgeous interview, Kimberly. I think your synapses fire in metaphor, which is to say two parts to earth, one to sky, which is to say both grounding and wind under the wing-ing all at once. I'm with Bertus, my friend, outside the line with you.
What a gorgeous way to describe metaphor Holly! I think I read something on this earlier in the week and gasped with its truth, always planting and reaching with everything we say. One without the other and it feels like day old bread, sustaining but why bother.😂
Isn’t it?! The concept isn’t mine. It came to me by Jeannine Oulette and to her by a poet whose name she couldn’t recall. I haven’t been able to locate the original quote, though I’ve looked because, I agree, it’s gorgeous.
Wow, what a great pairing, Eleanor and Kimberly, thank you both for a brilliant interview! Going straight back to your stacks to read your works again. Substack at its best!
Thanks for reading Jan! If you haven’t been following Eleanor’s current series Fallout, it’s a MUST READ. :)
Kimberly- you are amazing. 💞
Mirroring your words right back to you Teyani. 😉
Omg I just read this now, and once again I’m left in awe by your writing — and by the humble, authentic, swirling ways you navigate this world. How can our digital connection and friendship feel more powerful than many of my in person relationships? It’s the power of your writing, that’s what. Thank you. Your spirit is remarkable. PS I’m heading to Appleton in a month or so for a concert. You’ll be in my heart.
Christine, your words couldn’t have arrived at a better time. I woke up this morning with a cloud of insecurity and uncertainty about the sustainability of Unfixed, both as a media endeavor and my more recent endeavors with writing. I love this work, it sustains my heart, and the circle of bright, soulful humans here is like no other. So that’s reason enough. But sometimes it sure would be nice to feel a nod or two from the gatekeepers. So thank you for your whole-hearted encouragement. I feel lifted and the held, the uncertainties paling before the grand intimacy of truly seeing one another through this not-so silly platform. 💛
Anyone who can use "chthonic" in a sentence has my heart @Kimberly Warner. I've plumbed the underworld and shot through black holes to write my YA time travel adventure series and short stories.
Now, I'm turning to creative nonfiction--emphasis on "creative"--to tackle an ancestor memoir that combines prose, poetry, painting and photography to recreate a moment in my grandmother's life that brings her presence to the present.
I have no idea where the story will go, but "Unfixed" seems like the perfect description of whatever this is. Thanks Eleanor, for putting Kimberly in the spotlight!
A pleasure. She's a star.
I adore all the "Overstory" and "understory" references to old and new-growth trees... communicating with each other throughout a lifetime of evolution and "life-giving mycorrhizal networks." This is very much what Substack is for me as well. ❤️
Speaking of Overstory, did you read that incredible novel? One of my all-time favorites.
I sure did. It’s here, in France on the bookshelf. I recommended it to my son yesterday….
I DID and loved! Powers is a fave.
I just grinned and smiled through all of this. Your writing does that to me, Kimberly.
I resonate with lots of what you say.
"So without any pre-conceived idea about how that process should look, it’s hard to identify any mistakes. I’m winging it and true to my only flying-dream-to-date, I crash headfirst into the branches of trees daily. But no one seems to care, so I don’t either. It’s fun up here." 👏
You can call yourself a writer. You're a brilliant writer.
"I wish I could send you a version of this interview that includes all the backspaces, nonsense and gaping-mouth pauses where I stick my face on my cat’s belly, listening for my chthonic friends."
Well, I for one just fell madly in love with Substack and Kimberly all over again… Thank you, both ❤️
This may be my favourite quote ever —
“Writing feels like fishing in a giant, understocked lake. Most of the time, I float on the surface with my pole, trying to hook words and phrases that represent the ideas and scenes lurking in the deep only to end up with a sunburn and a boat full of seaweed.”
A wonderful interview, it was nice to hear a few things about the person who is often the interviewee. :)
You write with a profound vulnerability and creativity! Just read this line in response to why you write in a prose style : “…it is simply the shortest, most fluid distance between my brain and my heart”. Fluid, indeed. Keep on listening with your magnificent heart, dear daughter!
Thank you dear momma. Feeling so supported and nurtured by your love. Thank you for seeing me.
“Writing feels like fishing in a giant understocked lake.” That’s the best description I’ve heard yet. Great interview. 🥰🙏
And sometimes the lake is frozen solid! 😂
Ugh. So true.
This was a lovely and uplifting read this morning, thank you. But - sunflower butter and apples? What is this? I know this isn’t a recipe interview, but…☺️
Haha, nuthin fancy! Never had sunflower butter? A lot like peanut butter but a bit more well…sunflowery?!
Uplifting.
“Fishing in an understocked lake.” What a fresh and beautiful metaphor for writing.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Kimberly, one of my favorite souls in the world. You're a treasure here and in everything you do.
Thank you Mary, I so wish we could live in the sane hood and have tea together. It feels silly that we haven’t!
Doesn't it indeed! Wishing you all you care about and for!
Gorgeous interview, Kimberly. I think your synapses fire in metaphor, which is to say two parts to earth, one to sky, which is to say both grounding and wind under the wing-ing all at once. I'm with Bertus, my friend, outside the line with you.
Continuing to love this series, Eleanor.
What a gorgeous way to describe metaphor Holly! I think I read something on this earlier in the week and gasped with its truth, always planting and reaching with everything we say. One without the other and it feels like day old bread, sustaining but why bother.😂
Isn’t it?! The concept isn’t mine. It came to me by Jeannine Oulette and to her by a poet whose name she couldn’t recall. I haven’t been able to locate the original quote, though I’ve looked because, I agree, it’s gorgeous.
Oh yes! That’s where I read it! I’m really appreciating everything she has to offer…tempted to do the full immersion this fall.:)
Me too. I think, perhaps, I may have too much on my plate and may wait for another session. Her offerings are quite wonderful.